Tiphares' Half Angel
by F22wannabe
Summary: Ranma comes to the Scrapyard. The dangers of the Scrapyard may be the least of his problems. Cross with Battle Angel Alita.


Tiphares's Half Angel

A Ranma ½ and Battle Angel Alita (aka Gunnm) crossover by F22wannabe

Insert standard recognition sentence of various owners of the Anime titles listed above.

Insert standard 'don't sue me-I'm poor!' statement here.

Insert any 'why did I write this?' paragraph here. ('I wrote this 'cause I thought it'd be cool' seems to be popular.)

Insert 'being familiar with these animes would help' advice here. (Especially with this author!) 

"........." talkingitalics = thoughtsboldface = emphasis of highest degree

  
  
  
  


Since that is taken care of, on with.... whatever you want to call this......

  
  


Chapter 1 

  
  


"You sure you know where you're going, old man?" the girl asked as they passed the same building for the third time. She pushed a stray crimson hair from her face as she wove through the crowded marketplace behind her father. 

"Just getting my bearings," the balding man responded as he started down another street.

"Sure are a lot of cyborgs here, huh?"

"It's the Scrapyard," the bald man replied, as if that was explanation enough.

"I wonder what it's like up on Tiphares?" she mused, taking a second to look at the steel city above them.

"Not much chance you or I'll ever know."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," she sighed. A freak rainstorm chose to strike as she finished her sigh. 

***

Tiphares, the floating city, undoubtedly the most advanced place on earth. Only those privileged enough to be born there will ever know its wonders. No one from the Scrapyard has ever been to Tiphares, and in all reality, no one ever will. The Scrapyard is a dirty and violent city, living underneath the giant metal cloud of Tiphares. The Scrapyard at its best is a depressed city, its people without hope of advancement, and therefore kindness. Hardly anything there approaches second rate quality, with Tiphares taking the cream of every crop, and much of the Scrapyard's technology is scavenged from the giant metal landfill in the center of the city - the refuse of Tiphares. From this humongous rusting pile the Scrapyard gained its name and, in an often cited irony, its decrepit demeanor.

In an even more tragic irony, the Scrapyard is renowned throughout the world for its technology and the diversity of its peoples. From a distance, the unison of the Scrapyard to Tiphares is impressive, but upon meeting the inhabitants.... Their cold indifference, caring more about their next days food and shelter than the rights of their fellow human beings, they have become the poster child for the pinnacle of "me" society. 

It is even sadder that this is not their culture; these people are the product of Tiphares' greediness and domination. Yet these people never think of revolt or reforming the system. Tiphares had always been in control; it had been this way for untold generations. How could they, the inferior inhabitants of the Scrapyard, even dream of bringing down Tiphares, the floating city? 

Still, the two cities looked impressive from afar. 

***

To the west of the giant landfill lay the main commerce center, the very heart of the Scrapyard. In the middle of that stands the Tendo Dojo, with its distinctive wooden sign distinguishing it from every other building. The Tendos lived on the third and fourth floors of the building, with the first two floors dedicated to the dojo and its necessities.

The Tendo dojo was actually much more than a dojo. For the past three years, they have also been running a bodyguard agency. By signing their top students on to the business, the Tendos started the most powerful private protection agency in the Scrapyard. Soun Tendo did the training, Nabiki handled finances, Kasumi took care of the building, and Akane was actually one of the bodyguards. 

In the first floor training area, Soun had just finished teaching a class when the telegram arrived. His father had once told him of a time long ago when the government had employed people to ship the mail, but the rulers of the land felt no need for such a system, so the mail was now delivered by people like the boy in front of him. A thin gangly lad with dark blotches under his eyes from lack of sleep and probably food too. His clothes were splattered with mud, grease, and God alone knew what else. A dirty red hat placed backwards on his sandy haired head finished the ensemble.

Soun paid the delivery fee and bid the boy good day. The thin brown package in his hands was well traveled, marked with stamps from places he barely remembered existed. Hell, he couldn't remember any places that still used stamps! Flexing the package, he could immediately tell that it contained only a postcard. Ripping the paper away, he found a postcard with an extinct animal of some kind adorning one side. A chubby, lazy looking, black and white furred bear, more precisely. Deciding to get on to more important matters, he flipped the card over. The writing on the back was barely legible, with jagged lines and smeared ink, leading Soun to believe a sweaty imbecile had written it. His analysis would soon be proved surprisingly accurate.

I am bringing Ranma back from the Asian territories.

Sincerely, 

Genma

Then the purpose of Genma's return with Ranma hit him. Eyes tearing up, he went to gather his children.

Kasumi was cleaning, as usual, not that the kitchen needed it. Kasumi prided herself on having one of, if not the cleanest, home in the Scrapyard. It helped that her family was neat by nature, but this level of cleanliness was unheard of anywhere in the Scrapyard. 

"Kasumi, could you please get your sisters together and meet me in the livingroom?"

"Of course, Father."

Soun left to prepare his speech as Kasumi dried her hands.

***

Nabiki was plugging away on her calculator and writing notes on a legal pad. The antique oak desk in front of her, won at a poker game, was covered with receipts, bills, contracts, and carefully counted and stacked chips. Nabiki paused for a minute to look at the piles of cash. There was nearly 250,000 in chips there. Half of that would go to bills, a quarter to living expenses, fifteen percent to savings, and the remaining ten percent to bribes, or "business expenses" as Nabiki preferred to call them.

And that's what she was running here, a business. Without her, Kasumi wouldn't be able to afford soap to clean with, they wouldn't own their own building, and they wouldn't be one of the most prominent businesses in the Scrapyard.

Okay, Akane did provide a lot of muscle to the operation, and without Dad the dojo would never have gone anywhere, but without Nabiki lighting a fire under his posterior after Mom died to get working again (their savings were all but gone by that point), they'd be living in the gutter. And Nabiki had been the one who lined up the financing for the dojo. Although her most brilliant move to date was starting the bodyguard service. By getting graduates to sign one year service contracts, she had single handedly started the best protection agency in the Scrapyard. Protection was something everyone wanted, and who better than the Tendos to provide it? At a premium price, of course.

"Nabiki, Father wants all of us in the livingroom. Do you know where Akane is?" Kasumi asked, breaking Nabiki's reverie.

"She's out on an assignment. She should be back soon."

That was one thing Nabiki didn't grudge her sister. Akane had proven to be all thumbs at household duties, especially cooking, and then at the business end of things, but she excelled at crushing things and giving orders. Nabiki hired an ex-pro to show Akane the ropes, and now her sister was the head of all the bodyguards employed by the Tendo dojo. Nearly everyday Akane headed out to cover the V.I.P.s who hired the Tendo Bodyguard Agency. Everyday Akane walked into the potential line of fire. Nabiki much preferred working behind the scenes, where the money was better and the threats limited to paper cuts.

"I only have a few more things to do. I'll wrap them up real quick and be in the livingroom in a couple of minutes."

"Okay," Kasumi smiled as she walked out of Nabiki's office, noting that it needed dusting and a good mopping.

***

Akane strolled into the dojo and headed for the women's locker room on the second floor. It was actually an old office, barely eight by ten, converted over to a locker room for Akane and the two other female dojo students. It wasn't proper for guys and girls to shower together after all, and the time men spent in traction for even hinting such an idea to Akane was money lost to the dojo. So Nabiki spent the money on converting the office.

Akane sat down and gave a big sigh. It had been another long and boring day of nothing. She had partly taken on this job to hone her fighting skills, but for the last three months, all her fights had been during her dojo training sessions. "Maybe that's a good thing," she mused quietly. 

Akane blew her long blue-black hair out of her face as she shrugged off her gi. Unlike most of the other bodyguards, Akane preferred wearing her gi to civilian clothing while on duty. Not only was the gi easier to move around in, but she also wanted everyone to know what she was there to do: crush things. Punks rarely attack someone obviously ready for them. Throwing the light yellow top in the hamper, she reached for the velcro straps of her kevlar vest.

The vest was another thing Akane disliked about her job. Fifteen pounds of black covered cloth, it impeded Akane's movements more than any protection it provided. Guns were illegal in the Scrapyard after all, so the primary purpose of the vest was already gone. Add to that the ineffectiveness of the vest against modern knives and other such weapons, there was really no point. But it did help cushion the occasional blows she took, especially ones from a cyborg, and wearing it made her father feel better about sending his baby girl out on such dangerous jobs. Merely living in the Scrapyard was hazardous enough without looking for additional trouble.

She still remembered the fight her father had put up when she first voiced her desire to join the 'family business.' Nabiki had talked their father into allowing it, at a cost to her relationship with him. Akane couldn't remember the last time they had talked with each other, outside of business concerns, for more than three minutes. Sighing again, she hit the showers.

***

Akane entered the kitchen, using the corner of her towel to dry out the insides of her ears. She hadn't eaten or had a drink for hours, and she was bent on remedying that situation. Naturally as soon as she got to the fridge, Kasumi came and told her to come to the livingroom, where Father wanted to talk to them. Akane paused for a second, then grabbed a soda, but Kasumi said she already had prepared some tea, so Akane put it back and followed Kasumi into the livingroom.

The livingroom was actually a section of one large room that also housed the dining room. The back of a large royal blue sofa marked the invisible line delineating one side from the other. The livingroom also had a television and a recliner. The dining room was a traditional Japanese setup. 

Akane sat down on the right side of the sofa, sipping at some hot green tea. Nabiki had commandeered the middle of the sofa and was discussing the dojo's finances with their father. Her father had dragged a folding chair into the room and was sitting in front of the television. He waited for Kasumi to settle into the left side of the sofa before beginning.

[Deep breath] "A friend of mine has been on a decade long training trip with his son. They have apparently been to the Asian territories recently. They have sent me notice that they will be here to visit us soon."

"Wow, sounds like they've been doing some serious walking," Nabiki commented.

"They must be pretty good at martial arts if they survived their time in the Asian territories," Akane added.

"Yes, well... Now before any of you were born, My friend and I promised to join our to schools," he took another deep breath, "through the marriage of our children."

Kasumi for the first time in years was not smiling. Nabiki adopted a look of scorn that caused many a man to quake in his boots. Akane, who had been drinking her tea, was so shocked that she inhaled the entire contents of her tea cup, which immediately scalded her mouth, forcing her to rapidly expel it, directly onto her father. She started unceremoniously hacking and coughing while Soun dried his face with his shirt. 

"You WHAT?!" Akane asked when she could breathe properly again.

"What kind of guy is he?" Nabiki asked darkly.

"I hope he's older than me. Young men are so boring," Kasumi mentioned.

"What are you two talking about?"

"Well, you never know, Akane. He might be cute," Nabiki admonished. 

"We'll know soon enough. They should be here within the next day or so," Soun announced.

"Oh my! I have so much to do to get ready. I better get started on cleaning right now."

Everybody facefaulted while Kasumi went to work.

***

Later that night, Nabiki was in her office, trying to finish her accounting, but she was still miffed at her father. She knew that greater transgressions had occurred in society, but still...

A knock at the door broke her inflection. Few people knocked on her door this late at night, so she had a good guess who it was and told him to enter. As she expected, it was Kenta Kimura, her top bodyguard. Even though Akane outranked him, and was therefore assumed to be better, Nabiki rated him higher. His dedication, not only to the job but to the Tendo family, was a rare thing in the world, and there was an air of experience about him that Akane lacked. He had once worked as a free lance bodyguard, but that was ended when he was beaten within an inch of his life on a failed assignment a little over three years ago. Not that he ever told anyone that, but Nabiki was known for her abilities to uncover people's pasts. Some one had walked by his half-dead body and actually cared enough to drag him to a doctor, who took the only route left to save Kenta: he made him a cyborg. Nabiki 'discovered' him three months after that, and had hired him soon after. The rest, as they say, is history.

"How's it going Nabs?" Kenta's baritone voice smiled. He was the only one who ever called her that, though only when he was off duty and when they were in a relatively private area. Nabiki had certain rules, even among her few friends, and protecting her imagine as an 'ice queen' was one of them.

"Things could be better Kiki," she answered. She had assigned him that nickname on day one, when she had trouble pronouncing his name during his application interview. She followed the same rule as he did for using it, though only to spare him the embarrassment of having such a feminine nickname.

"What's up?" He asked, sitting down in the wooden chair in front of Nabiki's desk, which creaked heavily from the burden put on it.

"Just some problems with my family."

"Ah, the fun kind. So what happened? Dad say you can't date Ernie?"

Nabiki had to smile a little at that one. Ernie was one of the lower level bodyguards, complete with a lower level intellect. His only redeeming qualities were his 160 kilograms of bulk effectively protected clients from harm, and his seeming immunity to pain. The man had once taken a baseball bat to the base of his neck without flinching. And since his head was just as dense as his body, Nabiki had gotten him to work for real cheap. Nobody told him he was getting robbed either. It made for some great jokes down at the bar.

"And you know how deeply I'm in love with him," Nabiki responded. In a way she was. Ernie did have the highest profit ratio of all the bodyguards. That came with being the cheapest to employ.

"Anyway, you want to join me at Kansas?" Kenta asked. He and Nabiki were drinking buddies, and Kansas was the local watering hole for hunters, bodyguards, and similar types. They had gotten into some pretty interesting conversations at Kansas, but Nabiki didn't feel like talking tonight.

"Some other time? I have to finish this stuff."

"Alright," Kenta sighed. He stopped as he opened the door. "Saturday, Mayfly bar."

"How reliable?" The question was a formality; she trusted his word.

"My best source."

"Excellent." Nabiki scribbled in her little black book.

"Pay on Sunday?" Kenta asked.

"As usual."

"Then I'll see you tomorrow, Boss."

"Goodnight, Kiki."

***

Kenta stepped out the dojo door and put on his black trench coat and gloves, matched perfectly to his long-sleeved, black turtleneck shirt, baggy black jeans, and black combat boots. He reminded himself that he needed to get a black hat to cover his hair, also black. And unless one paid close attention, they would never notice how unusually large the sleeves were, or the weapons held there. He wore this same outfit everyday since the incident three years ago. He explained it as being his personal battle dress uniform choice, but everyone knew why he really wore it. Except for the rare squeaking of a joint, his clothes hid every sign that he was a cyborg. 

He was so dressed when he rounded the corner a block from the dojo and accidentally plowed over a petite red-headed girl. He offered her his apologies and a hand up, but she stood up by herself and brushed off her cloak. The thing was at least two sizes too large for her. Moving his eyes back to her face, he took note of how good looking she was. If she had a body to match under that ragged cloak, he would have made a move on her. Three years ago maybe, but it would have been a serious move. 

A lumbering shadow behind the girl ripped Kenta's attention away from the crimson-haired girl to a large *thing* covered in blobs of wet black and white fur.

In the blink of an eye, Kenta was combat ready, Hydra's Kiss armor locked in place with blades extended. "What the hell is that?!"

The beast looked at him with annoyance, and promptly hit the girl upside the head. Kenta was mere nanoseconds away from making beast cutlets when the girl stopped him. 

"He's just my pet. He won't hurt you." If he knows what's good for him.

She seemed sincere, so Kenta dropped his stance and slid the blades back in, never dropping his wary eye off the two. Another swipe to the girl's head again almost earned the creature a trip to the local grill, but the girl retaliated first. "Cut that OUT!" a lightning back kick to the gut forced the thing to its knees.

"Nice kick," Kenta admitted. He never would have pegged her for a martial artist. An eighteen year old redhead model, but not a fighter. 

"Thanks. Do you know where the Tendo Dojo is?"

That question set off alarms in Kenta's head. A strange girl, with a stranger thing for a pet, seeking out the Tendos? What for? "Now why would you want to go to that place?" he asked, not expecting an honest answer. He had lost trust in people many years ago.

"Just going to meet some old friends of my Father's."

Kenta didn't like that answer. It was too clean cut. Nobody ever just 'visited' any one in the Scrapyard. Then again, he did find the Tendos to have their own little - sometimes quite large - idiosyncracies. Kenta figured he could take them to the dojo, but there was no way he was leaving until he was personally satisfied that these two were legit. There was something about these two, like they were trying to hide something. The girl's over-expressive eyes said that much. Leading the girl and her 'pet' to the dojo, he used the intercom by the receptionist's desk to inform Nabiki that she had guests.

***

Nabiki emerged from the stairs by the receptionist's desk on the first floor, where Kenta was keeping watch over a girl and a...whatever the hell it was. Nabiki's steps became very cautious as she neared the thing. Who knew if it was dangerous?

"How can I help you, Miss..?"

"I'm Ranma Saotome. Sorry 'bout this."

Nabiki hid her shock well. Dad's not going to like this. But is that such a bad thing? she kept asking herself. "Please, follow me Ranma. Why don't you come up too, Kenta?" 

Kenta nodded. He would have insisted on coming anyway. Something reeked about these two, and it wasn't the things fur.

"So how was your trip?" Nabiki asked her guest.

"We would have been here sooner, but Pops couldn't find the place. We bumped into this guy and he brought us here," Ranma answered, motioning to Kenta.

"His name's Kenta. He works for me. Well, the dojo, but since I basically run the thing, I can say stuff like that. I'm Nabiki Tendo."

"You want to get the others, Nabiki?" Kenta asked.

"Okay, you entertain my guests for a minute Kenta."

Once Nabiki left the room, Kenta turned rabid on the girl. He pointed to Ranma and her creature with a promise of death. "If you even think of pulling something, I'll rip your heads off. You're both trying to hide something. I can smell it in the air, and it's written all over your faces. What are you two doing here, really?"

"Pops said we're here to visit old friends of the family," Ranma answered, obviously unfazed by Kenta's threats.

"Where is your dad anyways, kid?"

"Around. He'll show up sooner or later."

***

"Dad?" Nabiki opened the door, "Ranma is downstairs in the livingroom." 

Soun bolted out of his bedroom and was instantaneously down the stairs and in the livingroom.

"Ranma! You're here!" Soun yelled as he glomped onto Ranma and cried a torrent of tears. The rest of the Tendo family entered the livingroom, where Nabiki dropped the bomb on her father.

"Dad, Ranma's a girl."

Soun released the now blue Ranma and put a hand on Ranma's cloak covered body. Moving his hand slowly to her chest, he found a considerable bulge. He did the only rational thing he could think of: he fainted.

***

Kasumi was putting a fresh cold compress on Soun's head when he awakened. Ranma had taken off her cloak, revealing a very well developed body, and was sitting quietly next to the black and white animal. She absentmindedly brushed at her red shirt. Noticing her father was awake, Nabiki began admonishing him for not checking his facts.

"But he told me he had a son!"

"And you know first hand how much of a son he has!" Nabiki countered.

"I guess the marriage plans are off," Akane smiled. It had been such a stupid idea to start with, and Akane was glad it had been shot down.

"What marriage plans?" Ranma asked.

"Huh? You don't know?" Akane was truly shocked.

"My father," Nabiki pointed to her weeping parent, "and your father made a promise to join their schools of martial arts through the marriage of their kids, i.e.: us," Nabiki informed her.

"Stupid old man! Watcha do that for?!" Ranma turned on the creature and started pounding away.

"Where is Genma anyway?" Soun stopped crying long enough to ask.

"How could you do this?! And you didn't even have the balls to tell me!" Ranma executed a flawless spin kick, hurtling the thing into the wall, where its impact left a large crack.

"You're going to pay for that, you know," Nabiki said to the seething Ranma, "And why are you beating that thing up?"

"Stress relief," Ranma responded as she cracked her knuckles and moved in for the kill.

"Akane, why don't you take Ranma down to the dojo and spar together?" Nabiki suggested. I can't afford to fix that wall right now. I'm sure Akane can take whatever Ranma can dish out.

Kenta, who had been standing quietly in the livingroom corner, glared at Nabiki. He didn't want to leave Akane alone with Ranma, but he couldn't watch the creature at the same time. Not that the thing was in such great shape at the moment. An idea sprang into his head.

"This guy here stinks to Tiphares. Why don't I take him down to the locker room and give him a bath?"

Ranma and the creature paled at those words, though it was harder to tell on the creature. "Uh, he can do that himself," Ranma said.

"What is it anyway?" Akane asked for everyone.

"A panda. Some extinct species of bear, I guess."

"If he's a panda, then by definition, they're not extinct," Nabiki observed.

"Well he's the last of 'em, so they're close enough," Ranma answered.

"Well, why don't you all get moving?" Nabiki enthused.

"Come on Ranma. I'm Akane. You wanna be friends?"

Ranma smiled her response as they went down the stairs.

***

"Move it, big guy," Kenta nudged the panda with his foot, "it's bath time."

"Ranma said he can do it himself, Kenta," Nabiki reminded him. "You can go home."

Kenta gave her a look telling her he'd go home as soon as Satan became holy. "But he'll need help reaching his backside," Kenta joked darkly.

"Whatever. Just don't expect me to pay you."

"For tonight's services, mind you. I do want to be paid for my other work though."

"Geez, Kenta. You don't need to be so literal."

"With you Nabiki, I can't afford not to be."

***

"You study kempo, right?" Akane asked Ranma.

"A little."

"I heard you've been out in the Asian territories recently. What's it like?"

"Quiet. Not as crowded as this place. And nowhere near as many cyborgs."

"Oh. Ready?" Akane settled into a horse stance. Ranma nodded and remained standing with her arms behind her back. Akane slowly started closing the distance between the two.

***

Kenta shoved the panda into the men's locker room. Pushing the protesting creature into the showers, he put the tip of the larger Hydra blade to the panda's spine. "I don't know how or why, but for an animal, you are very intelligent. You go do your thing, then I'll give you some towels to dry off. You behave, and everything'll be peachy. You give me any trouble, and your spine won't be half of what it is now. Ya dig?" The panda nodded. "Good. I'll be waiting." Kenta walked out the locker room door.

***

Ranma had so far dodged everything Akane had thrown at her. With a smile on her face and her arms behind her back no less. Getting frustrated, Akane put everything into a single punch, shattering the boards behind Ranma's head. Of course, Ranma was now behind Akane with a single finger on the back of Akane's head.

"You're good," was all Akane could say. Kenta, watching by the staircase door, was of the same mind. Seeing as how nothing hostile was happening, he headed back to the second floor and the locker room to check on the panda.

***

That man was right, Genma decided, I did need a bath. Genma tightened the knot on his white gi and then put his white bandanna on. Now how do I explain this?

***

Kenta immediately knew something was wrong. There was no sound in the locker room. No running water, no movement, no breathing. Blades extended, he crept over to the showers. Whirling through the opening, he found nothing but emptiness. The panda was gone. Kenta took a quick look around, even checking the ceiling, but the results were the same. He knew the panda was still in the locker room, so Kenta headed for the toilets.

***

"Come on, let's get cleaned up," Akane headed for the women's locker room. 

"Together?" a surprised Ranma asked.

"Sure. There's more than enough room for the both of us."

"Uh, no thanks. I'll wait 'til you're finished."

"Right, I get it. You try to get whatever privacy you can. There can't be a lot of that on the road." Ranma shook her head vigorously in agreement. "Okay, I'll show you to the locker room, then I'll use the bath upstairs. You can have the locker room all to yourself." Akane led Ranma up the stairs.

"That was close," Ranma said as she closed the locker room door behind her.

***

Kenta entered the 'relief' section of the locker room. Nobody was at the urinals or by the sink, so that left the single stall in the corner. Kicking the door in, he found a man crouched on the rim of the toilet. 

"Who the hell are you?" Kenta demanded the man. "And what are you doing here?"

"I am Genma Saotome," He answered, failing to gain any of the dignity he tried to put into his voice. "And I've come to see my friends. So if you wouldn't mind." Genma tried to slip past Kenta.

Kenta easily knocked Genma back onto the toilet. "Just a minute, bub. How'd you get in here? And where'd the panda go?"

"I didn't see any panda," Genma said, "and my friend let me in."

"So you could hide on a toilet? I think its safe to say you're dumber than you look. And I must look pretty stupid myself if you think I'm gonna buy that one." Kenta motioned for Genma to stand up. "Turn around and put your hands on the wall."

Genma complied, not feeling up to arguing or fighting with an employee of the Tendos. "What are you going to do?"

"This." Kenta slapped a pair of cuffs onto Genma. "Let's go see what Nabiki says I should do to you." Genma didn't like the way this was going.

***

Akane was on the third floor before she remembered something. Ranma doesn't have any clean clothes to change into! Rushing to her room, she grabbed some underwear, a shirt and some shorts and headed back down the stairs.

***

Ranma was thoroughly enjoying the hot water flowing over his body. Hot water was a rare treat when one was traveling on a no-budget training trip. Of course, now he was supposed to marry one of the Tendo girls... Ranma clenched his fists. This whole time he thought they were just going to be visiting friends, and in reality, he was supposed to marry one of the girls he had met tonight! Even worse than that was the fact that his dad didn't even tell him. Not that he expected anything less from his father. 

Guess it's time to face the firing squad. Ranma headed out of the shower to dry off.

***

Akane opened the door to the women's locker room. "Ranma? I brought you some clean-"

Coming out of the shower was a dripping wet, and decidedly male, person. Naked. Looking up, her eyes met his. They said nothing. After a moment of tense silence, Akane backed out of the locker room.

Standing by the door, she stood stunned for a few more seconds, before letting out a primal scream.

***

Kenta shoved the gi clad man into the Tendo livingroom, where Soun was talking to Kasumi. "Hey Boss, look at what I found in the bathroom," Kenta said, bringing their attention to his captive. 

"Is that you? Is it really you Gen-"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!"

"That sounded like Akane!" Kasumi observed.

"Watch him." Kenta left the man in Soun's custody and was running down the stairs, screaming in his mind, I knew it! 

He met Akane by the women's locker room door, where she had just finished screaming.

"What happened?" Kenta asked.

"There's a guy in there!"

"Huh?"

"There's a guy in there! He came out of the showers while I was bringing Ranma some clean... My God! Ranma's still in there! Who knows what that pervert's done to her!" 

"I'm going in," Kenta said, again unsheathing his blades, which had waiting to bite into something all night.

"I'm coming too," Akane stated.

"Fine, cover my six." Kenta opened the door with his foot.

Standing just inside the door was a black haired boy wearing the same clothes Ranma had been wearing earlier. 

"Who are you?" Kenta demanded.

"And what have you done with Ranma?" Akane added.

"I'm Ranma Saotome. Sorry 'bout this." 

***

Kenta shoved a handcuffed Ranma into the Tendo livingroom. Earlier investigation had proven that the female Ranma was nowhere to be found, but Kenta was having a hard time believing this boy was her. Sure they looked a little alike, they might even be brother and sister since they did resemble one another, but the same person? Wrong genders pal, Kenta told himself. And wrong hair color too!

"Did you have to put these on so tight?" Ranma asked Kenta. 

"I could have put them on tighter, but then you'd need a doctor and a couple of casts, so I chose not to."

"Why did you put handcuffs on my friend and his son?" Soun asked.

"His son? I should have figured that. One sneak always has another one following him."

"We're not thieves!" Ranma exclaimed.

"How do I know that?" Kenta asked. "Besides, what the hell were you doing in the women's locker room?"

"Please, I can explain everything," the gi clad man said. "Just uncuff my son and I'll tell you our story." He rubbed his wrists in fresh memory of how tight Kenta applied them.

Kenta looked to Nabiki. She nodded. Sighing, he unlocked Ranma, who started rubbing his wrists. "This better be good."

"Two months ago," Genma began...

***

"We were heading to a legendary training ground in a land once known as China. We hired a local to lead us to this place, known as Jusenkyou, the 'training ground of accursed springs,'" Genma told them. "We started sparring atop the bamboo poles that were placed about the grounds. I slipped and fell into-" Genma was interrupted by a glass of water and promptly started growling at Ranma.

"Actually, I knocked pops here into one of the springs. The 'spring of drowned panda' to be precise. The guided was shouting at me, warning me too late about the effects of the springs, when pops jumped outta the spring and knocked me into the 'spring of drowned girl,'" Ranma said. 

"The legendary training ground of accursed springs. Its true horrors have always been shrouded in mystery, but now..." Soun stated.

"True horror?" Ranma asked. "Whaddaya mean 'true horror'? Old man! What was the big idea of taking me to a place like that anyway?" Ranma cocked his fist and was about to strike the panda that was his father, when Soun poured some cold water on him.

"So with cold water, you change from a boy into a girl, and he changes into a panda? And when doused with hot water, you change back?" Soun poured some hot water on Genma. 

"It doesn't need to be that hot!" Genma protested.

"And the same happens for you?" Soun asked Ranma, who dodged the water.

"Hot water! Not boiling!"

"Why did you take Ranma to a place like Jusenkyou anyway?" Nabiki asked.

Genma pulled out a pamphlet and handed it to her. She quickly looked it over.

"I get it. You can't speak Chinese, can you?"

Soun patted Ranma on the back. "You're problem's not so bad after all. My daughter Kasumi. She's twenty-one. And Nabiki, nineteen. And Akane, eighteen. Pick the one you want and she's your fiancé."

Kenta was not the only one who couldn't believe his ears. He had stayed silent the whole time, he couldn't risk making any objections, but to make these kids chose the course of the rest of their lives right now, when they didn't even know each other? That's crazy! "Now hold on a sec-"

"Oh, he wants Akane!" Kasumi cheered.

"Oh, definitely!" Nabiki seconded.

"You gotta be joking!" Akane lamented.

Nabiki was unfazed. "You're always telling me you hate boys. And here's one that's half girl!"

"Me marry that pervert?! Never!"

"I'm not a pervert!" Ranma argued.

"Then what were you doing in the women's locker room?!"

"Hey, you walked in on me!"

"Quiet! Both of you!" Kenta yelled. He pointed at Ranma. "You could have told us about this up front, you know. Then all of this wouldn't have happened."

"Well..." Ranma knew it was true.

"And Mr. Tendo, how can you expect these kids to marry when they just met each other?"

"It's their duty! They must keep our family's honor."

"Honor? You're talking about honor while you're living in the Scrapyard? You could be wrecking these kids' lives."

"They must fulfill our promise!" Genma chanted.

"Your promise, mind you."

Soun Tendo had enough. "Mr. Kimura, I have heard enough from you! This is a family matter - meaning it doesn't concern you! And unless you no longer wish to be employed here, I suggest you leave now."

"Then I guess I'll be going. See you tomorrow Nabiki. I'm gonna hit Kansas. I need a drink after all this." 

"I'll come with you," Nabiki said, following Kenta down the stairs.

"One of these days, I'll convince her to fire that...man," Soun swore under his breath.

***

"Your dad has some weird sense of honor, Nabs," Kenta observed while opening the door of Kansas for Nabiki.

"Tell me about it."

"And you don't feel guilty for forcing those two together? You know there's no way to change it now," Kenta said as he sat down in their usual booth.

"They'll be fine. Akane won't be forced into anything." Nabiki ordered some beers.

"Still, she's gonna make life hard for that boy. I knew they were hiding something; I just didn't think it'd be so.. Bizarre."

"It could be worse."

"Not by much," Kenta took a slug from his beer.

"So what do you think I should do about the situation?"

It wasn't often Nabiki asked him for advice. "I'd try to smooth things out between the two. Ranma's new to the city, and having the angel of death looming over his shoulder isn't going to help him adjust. I've seen how your father is, and the kid's seems even worse!"

"Akane's as stubborn as they come. Nothing is going to happen unless she wants it to."

"But she holds that whole honor deal as sacred as her father. If he keeps touting it as a matter of honor, she'd do it."

Nabiki leaned back into the cushions. "I think my dad will relent before that happens. He really only wants to see her happy."

"If you think so. Weird way of showing it."

"But this could be quite a profitable venture..."

"How so?" Kenta asked.

"I can put Ranma and his dad to work for me. Minus living expenses and such. And if I can get some risque pictures of Ranma's female side..." She grinned mischievously.

"I'd leave it at having them working for you. If he gets changed into a girl while on the job, some porno nuts might come after her..him... Ranma. And exposing clients to danger is very unprofessional."

"You're probably right." She could see the chips flying away on silver wings.

That sat quietly drinking their liquor. 

"Why don't you go home and set this up: I can take the kid on as a protege, you know, show him the ropes. When he's ready, we'll team him up with Akane. Maybe working together will help them get along."

"You mean they don't?" Nabiki laughed. She had seen the underlying animosity too. "Not natural lovers like yourself?" she jibed, referencing to his history before.... "Sorry. I didn't mean to-""

"It's okay. It's nice to see you drop the facade every now and then. And yes, I think the both of them are.. naive to some of the finer things in life."

"Fine. Sounds good. You can be quite intelligent when you want to be, Kiki."

"Used to impress women pretty well. They seemed to like a guy who could understand them and be a shoulder to lean on."

"You always were a player."

"Was. Ain't none of that been going on for three years. You know that."

"You picking up the tab?" Nabiki asked.

"Sure, Nabs. You go home and set things up." Kenta paused for a moment. "And take this," He gave her his backup knife, "just in case."

"You're way too overprotective, Kiki."

"Scrapyard's a dangerous place."

"Goodnight, Kiki."

"See ya, Nabs."

Nabiki headed out the door, slipping the knife into her jacket carefully.

"I always do miss the kiss goodnight though. Old habits die hard, I suppose. Hey, give me a double!"

***

"So you two can sleep in the guest room for now," Kasumi said as she opened the door for Ranma and Genma.

"Thanks Kasumi," Ranma tossed his things in the far corner.

"Sleep well," she smiled before heading to her own room.

"She's pretty nice. Unlike that tomboy sister of hers."

"You shouldn't talk about your fiancé that way Ranma," Genma chided.

"It's your fault I'm in this mess, Pops. Be happy I didn't just walk out. I always said we should have stayed out there 'til we found a cure."

Nabiki knocked on the door. "Hey, can I speak to you two for a minute?"

"Sure Nabiki," Genma answered while opening the door,

"Since you two will be staying here for a while, I think its only fair that you pay your way. That being said, both of you can work for us. I'll pay you both, and deduct your living expenses right out of your pay. Tomorrow Ranma, you'll be working with Kenta. Mr. Saotome here will work with Akane. See you in the morning." She left, leaving them no chance to argue.

"Guess we better get some sleep Pops." Ranma unrolled his sleeping bag, since his father had already claimed the bed.

End chapter 1

  
  


Author's notes:

I have noticed very few Ranma 1/2 and Battle Angel Alita crossovers on the web. And those I found weren't too spectacular. Since I now own all the B.A.A. manga, and can get info on all the Ranma stuff past the first ten volumes, I figured I should give it a shot. 

I didn't want to make the Tendo's bounty hunters - it doesn't fit with their personality. Similarly, I didn't want them to be a dying dojo. So I created a middle ground for them to operate in. "It's the duty of the martial artist to protect the weak," as Ranma would say. "And the duty of entrepreneurs to profit," as Nabiki would say.

This is the second draft of my story, the first being 70+ pages and incomplete. I am still working on integrating both storylines together. I'll probably speed up both timelines considerably. 

And I haven't decided who will get Ranma either. I may even decide to kill him off in the end. I do have several twists planned though.

I have one question for you readers: how soon should I introduce Alita? My original version hadn't even gotten to that point. I have at least two chapters more of solid Ranma before I have any need to introduce her, but that kind of defeats the point of writing a crossover, doesn't it? So give me a vote: expand the story now, or build up the Ranma side more.

  
  


P.S.: As for the Hydra's kiss armor, I made it up. I will post some drawings at my website sometime in the near future. (I am actually still finalizing their design!)

  
  


Author's notes v2.0:

Minor fixes, changed/added dialog, changed name of armor. I got a grand total of 1 review from the original posting. Must be you think it's perfect, since no one's said anything either way.

  
  


Visit me at www.flamingwreckage.8m.com or email me at F22wannabe@aol.com Be sure to put the fanfic title in the header, or else your email will be deleted! I can't afford to have a virus crash my computer!

  
  


Quote of the fic:

"My fantasy world is much better than this one. But you won't let me stay there!"

- Myself

  
  



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